Adjustable garment hanger



April 11, 1961 MALEK 2,979,241

ADJUSTABLE GARMENT HANGER Filed July 11, 1957 INVENTOR. [00/3 1, M/MfK United States Patent ADJUSTABLE GARMENT HANGER Louis L. Male k, RD. 2, Port Jervis, NY.

Filed July 11, 1957, Ser; No. 671,168

13 Claims. (Cl. 223-94) The present invention relates to an improvement in clothes hangers and in particular to a hanger capable of being adjusted to fit a variety of coat or dress sizes.

Although it iswell known that clothes vary greatly in size and shape, particularly in the width and contour of their shoulders, clothes hangers, currently in use have rigid and fixed dimension. Such hangers function properly only with clothes of a corresponding size. Garments of a different size crease and lose shape even when capable of being held by these hangers, In addition, rigid hangers are inconvenient to use, in that it is difflcult to insert them into narrow neck openings.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a hanger that may be readily adjusted to fit various sized garments, and which may be made to conform to the general contour of the garment hung thereon.

Another object is to provide a simply contructed, easily manipulated and inexpensive adjustable hanger.

It is a particular object of this invention to provide a hanger in which the angular position of the supporting arms in both the horizontal andvertical planes may be changed at will to provide for different shoulder dimensions and contours.

This invention comprises a construction of coat hanger having a pair of arms pivotally connected to a flexible member capable of being retained in fixed positions permitting the angle between the arms in the horizontal and vertical planes to be varied.

Other objects and features of the invention will be apparent when the following description is considered in connection with the annexeddrawings, in which,

.Figurel is an elevational view of a hanger according to the present invention,

Figure 2 is a bottom view of this same hanger,

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a preferred form of flexible member in the hanger of Figures l-3.

As is shown in the drawing, a pair of substantially hollow molded arms are connected by a flexible member 11 formed of a substantially rectangular piece of resilient material such as rubber or the like and a pair of strips 17 of similar material which are respectively attached to and extend from within the arms 10. A suspension hook 16 having an enlarged head 22 has a shaft 7 21 passing through the center of the flexible member 11 and through holes in strips 17.

The flexible connection 11 has its end portions slit so as to form a group of multiple plies 12 at each of these ends. A pin 13 passes through the body of each arm 10 and through a corresponding slot 14 in the flexible connection 11, these pins 13 serving to retain and substantially fix the flexible member 11 within the hollow arms 10. The slots 14 are sufficiently large however to allow the flexible plies 12 to move and slide over one another when the flexible connection 11 is bent and to allow the arms 10 to rotate and pivot about the connection. Respective camming clamps 15 mounted on lice.

2 pins 13 are provided to cooperatively lock the flexible member 11 and arms 10 into a rigid position by pinching the side walls of arms 10 together.

From the description it will be observed that it is quite simple to vary the angular relationship of the arms 10 in both the horizontal and vertical planes. This can be done in either plane singly or in both simultaneously. i

The angular relationship in the horizontal plane, between the arms 10 may be determined by bending the flexible member 11 about the shaftZl of hook '16 so that the various plies 12 slide over one another, and then locking the member 11 in that position'by clamp 15. When so clamped the plies 12 are unable to slip or slide over one another and the arms 10 are retained in the angular position they have been made to assume.

The angular relationship in the vertical plane between the arms 10 may be determined by pivoting the arms in the vertical plane while clamp 15 is open. Strips 17 will either stretch or contract depending upon the movement of the arms because. of the resilient and flexible nature of the material used. Clamp 15 is then locked, fixing the arms'10 and the flexible member rigidly together so that" they are then unable to pivot. The arms 10 may be easily readjusted to fit another garment by releasing clamps 15 and repeating the process.

\ It should be noted that the flexible member 11 in stead of being formed as shown of a unitary piece-of resilient material, may be formed of a multiplicity of separate thin strips or plies of any suitable flexible material. These strips may, if desired, be joined or riveted adjacent their center. It is also obvious that other features of this device may be modified as desired; for example, the camming clamp 15 may be replaced by a thumb screw or other suitable clamping means. 4

The strips 17 though both shown of resilient material may be replaced by some other hinge means that will allow the arms to pivot in'a vertical plane. It is foreseen that a hanger of this type may be made without the use of strips 17 by the simple expedient of enlarging the flexible member 11. a i

It is obvious that the present invention can be practised in many ways other than the specific forms described here. It is therefore intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accom panying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative'and shall not be construed in a limiting sense,:the present invention being defined solely by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a garment hanger having a pair of arms disposed in end to end relation, the improvement in combination therewith comprising a flexible connection between said arms and affixed thereto, comprising a multiplicity of flexible plies substantially parallel to the longitudinal plane of said hanger upon said arms being disposed substantially coaxial, said plies slidably engaging one another so that said connection is substantially flexible only in a direction generally perpendicular to the planes in which said plies lie permitting movement of said arms in said direction, whereby the angle between said arms may be readily adjusted and means operatively connected with said plies for securing said plies at desired flexed posi-' tions.

2. In a garment hanger having a pair of arms and means for suspending said hanger in use, the improvement in combination therewith comprising a flexible con-.

nection between said arms and aflixed thereto compris ing an integral flexible member having a center portion and a pair of end portions, each of said end portions having longitudinal parallel spaced incisions therein forming a multiplicity of flexible plies slidably engaging one another at each end of said flexible member whereby the angle between said arms may be readily adjusted, and clamps engaging each end portion of said flexible member for securing said plies in fixed engagement at desired flexed positions.

3. In a garment hanger the improvement as claimed in claim 2 wherein one of said clamps is mounted on each of said arms.

4. In a garment hanger the improvement as claimed in claim 2 wherein said integral flexible member is formed of a molded resilient material.

5. In a garment hanger having a pair of arms disposed in end to end relation and means for suspending said hanger in use, the improvement in combination therewith comprising a flexible connection between said arms and aflixed thereto comprising a multiplicity of flexible plies substantially parallel to the longitudinal plane of said hanger upon said arms being disposed substantially coaxial, said plies slidably engaging one another so that said connection is substantially flexible only in a direction generally perpendicular to the planes in which said plies lie, permitting movement of said arms in said direction whereby the angle between said arms may be readily adjusted, and clamps engaging the outer plies adjacent each end of said flexible member for securing said plies in fixed engagement at desired flexed positions.

6. In a garment hanger the improvement as claimed in claim 5 in which one of said clamps is mounted on each of said arms.

7. In a garment hanger the improvement as claimed in claim 5 wherein said flexible plies are joined adjacent the center thereof forming a flexible connection havin a substantially unitary center portion.

8. In a garment hanger, the improvement as claimed in claim 7 further characterized in that said means for suspending said hanger is mounted within said center portion of said flexible connection.

'9. In a garment hanger having a pair of generally horizontal arms, the improvement in combination there with comprising a connecting member between said arms, each of said arms being pivotally attached to said member for movement generally in a horizontal plane, means for securing said arms at desired pivotal positions generally in a horizontal plane whereby the horizontal angle between said arms may be readily adjusted and fixed.

10. In a garment hanger having a pair of arms and means for suspending said hanger in use, the improvement in combination therewith comprising a flexible connection afiixed between said arms for movement in a horizontal plane, each of said arms being pivotally attached to said flexible connection for movement in a 4 vertical plane, and clamps mounted on each of said arms for securing said flexible connection and said arms in fixed engagement at desired positions, whereby the angle between said arms in both the horizontal and vertical planes may be readily adjusted.

11. In a garment hanger having a pair of arms and means for suspending said hanger in use, the improvement in combination therewith comprising a flexible connection aflixed between said arms for movement in a horizontal plane, each of said arms being pivotally attached to said flexible connection for movement in a vertical plane, and clamps mounted on each of said arms and adapted to secure said flexible connection and said arms in fixed engagement at selected positions, whereby the angle between said arms in both the horizontal and vertical planes may be readily adjusted, said flexible connection comprising an integral flexible member having a center portion and a pair of end portions, each of said end portions having spaced incisions therein parallel to the longitudinal plane of said hanger upon said arms being disposed substantially coaxial, and forming a multiplicity of flexible plies slidably engaging one another at each end of said flexible member.

12. In a garment hanger, having a pair of arms and means for suspending said hanger in use, the improvement in combination therewith comprising a flexible connection between said arms and affixed thereto for movement in a horizontal plane, said flexible connection comprising a multiplicity of longitudinally parallel flexible plies slidably engaging one another, each of said arms being pivotally attached to said flexible connection for movement in a vertical plane, and clamps mounted on each of said arms and adapted to secure said flexible connection and said arms in fixed engagement at desired positions, whereby the angle between said arms in both horizontal and vertical planes may be readily adjusted.

13. In a garment hanger, the improvement as claimed in claim 12, further characterized in that said multiplicity of flexible plies are joined adjacent to center thereof forming a flexible connection having a substantially unitary center position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

